Steve Mandel Buys More Charter Communications Amid Talk of Deal

Steve Mandel of Lone Pine Capital made a substantial 2,103.97% increase to his Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) holding on Feb. 4, GuruFocus Real Time Picks reports. Whereas previously he owned 327,422 shares of the company, after the transaction he owns 7,216,285 shares, paying $78 each on average for the new shares. Charter Communications’ stock price has perked up 7% in the day since Mandel made the increase. It is at $81.85 on Thursday afternoon.

In the past several days, Chart Communications renewed carriage agreements covering retransmission consent for CBS-owned stations and continued carriage of Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel on its cable television platform. The agreement encompasses new online and on-demand availability of programming from CBS and Showtime.

In addition, it announced a new distribution agreement to air Disney’s sports, news and entertainment content to its customers via television, computer, smartphone, table, gaming console and internet-enabled televisions. New programming will begin airing in the first half of 2013.

Talk has been circulating that the company could be preparing for another deal with a larger company.

Two new executives will join the company, it announced on Feb. 4. Charles Fisher will become senior vice president corporate finance and Stefan Anninger will take the role of vice president of investor relations. The company brought in Fisher specifically to work on capital markets and merger and acquisition activities.

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